Mets Hot Stove: More GM Meeting Madness

The Indian Wells rumor mill keeps churning with some interesting stuff:

New York Post: A. J. Burnett

Mark Hale quotes Burnett's agent as saying, "there's significant interest on [the Mets'] part" in signing the free agent pitcher -- who the Mets once drafted, and then traded for Al Leiter. When I first heard these Burnett rumors I thought they were silly. He will have a lot of teams bidding for his services, and he's a big question mark regarding whether he can reach a maturity level to justify the contract that his raw skills will command.

Still, there is logic to this, in that I believe that the Mets' rotation as it stands now is good enough to make the playoffs with, but not nearly good enough to win a championship. Adding Burnett would be a significant upgrade, and would give them a true power pitcher that can dominate with sheer stuff. The risk is that he can't put it together mentally and continues to be a .500 pitcher with immense talent. Anyway, it certainly makes more sense to me then a lot of what's being discussed this week.

Speaking of what doesn't make sense, Hale reports that Ramirez' agent says that the great Manny is "keeping an open mind" regarding a possible trade to the Mets. I'm already bored with this soap opera. If he comes here I'll live with it, but I just want to ignore him at this time.

The Mets pursuit of Julio Lugo from Tampa Bay makes more sense; he can solve the second base situation and force Rafael Furcal to use another team as leverage with the Braves and Cubs. Hale reports the Devil Rays are looking for the Mets' top pitching prospect Yusmeiro Petit, but if the Mets are looking to upgrade their rotation with Burnett it would make more sense to move a prospect that's close to major league ready.

Daily News: Wagner and Hoffman

Roger Rubin has a nice article on the Mets' pursuit of closers Billy Wagner and Trevor Hoffman. His point is that the Phillies and the Padres have angered these 2 by not offering better deals while they held exclusive rights to these players. Rubin also does a nice summary of the pros and cons of each. My gut with Wagner, for what it's worth, is that I still think he'll sign in Philly and he's just using the Mets to drive the price up. As for Hoffman, I just think his age makes a 3 year contract a huge risk.

Newsday: Delgado

A second chance at Delgado? When you ask a girl to dance and she tells you to f--k off, what do you do? You tell yourself she must have been a lesbian and move on to the next pretty girl. Pass.